Auction - Apr 14 - Philips de Pury announces BRIC 2011 highlights

Philips de Pury & Company has announced the highlights from its BRIC 2011 Evening and Day auctions on Apr 14-15, which bring together contemporary artists from fast growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The auctioneer says this year’s BRIC sale will focus on "artists with longevity and appeal as well as emerging new talent."

In the China section, there will be Zeng Fanzhi's The Mask Series no. 21, 1994 (the first first year of his quintessential series). Mask Series No. 21 belongs to the earliest group of Mask paintings, and was shown in the original solo show Behind Masks at Hanart TZ Gallery in Hong Kong with which the series debuted. Yang Shaobin's Untitled No. 15, 2000 (photo)  is reminiscent of a Francis Bacon, with two ghostly figures evolving out of a cloud-like shape. There will also be Liu Wei's Profile of worker, 1992, whic is painted in the Cynical Realism style, presenting with humour the scepticism and disenchantment that the artist felt after the brief idealistic period between the Cultural Revolution in China and the tragic events on Tiananmen Square in 1989.